From time to time, Tom Menino transcends the corporeal urban mechanic and begins to resemble something out of a ghost story. Never is this truer than during an election year. An example: On a sunny day back in March, a…

It may be a long time before Massachusetts matters again to presidential candidates, but the blitz of out-of-town cash that hit our state this election season showed there’s another way for us to be relevant: as guinea pigs for crackpot causes.

If you can smoke it, swill it, or ogle it, chances are it’s a target of Tom Menino’s overreaching, sometimes downright hysterical anti-vice crusade. Here’s to enjoying the unwholesome fun while it lasts.

In a banner year for local scandal, the public figures starring in the assorted follies have been offering up some mind-boggling excuses. It makes you wonder which is worse: the violation of our trust, or the intelligence-insulting whoppers that follow.